Under the Department of education guidelines for handling transgender students the student will now be able to pick what sex he/she wants to be classified as. The school is prohibited from discussing the choice with the student’s parents and any student that doesn’t recognize the transgendered students sexual choice will be punished for bullying.

Students will be able to “PICK” the sex of the sports teams on which they play, as well as the bathrooms they can use.

To break this down, if a mediocre senior age 17 on the boys swim team decides he want to improve his chances at a scholarship he can claim he is transgendered and swim on the girls team. Now the girls on the team are competing with a 17 year old male who biblically has a vast advantage due to his biological gender. After practice and meats he would then go to the girls’ locker room and use the showers with the 13 year old freshmen girls on the team.

Is it just me or is this insane??????If I had a child in the Massachusetts public school system I would be home schooling. This is a copy and paste from the Massachusetts department of education website.It explains how to deal with the transgender issue.First a transgender student get to pick the restroom he/she/it wants to use and if the transgendered student is uncomfortable he/she/it will have special accommodations made.

Copied text is as follows. Be sure to watch for the gender switches, if you don’t they will trip you up.

In one middle school, a male-to-female transgender sixth-grader socially transitioned after spring break. For the rest of the school year, she used the nurse’s restroom and the other unisex restrooms at the school. Beginning in seventh grade, she used the girls’ restroom. In one high school, a transgender male-to-female student was given access to the female changing facility, but the student was uncomfortable using the female changing facility with other female students because there were no private changing areas within the facility. The principal examined the changing facility and determined that curtains could easily be put up along one side of a row of benches near the group lockers, providing private changing areas for any students who wished to use them. After the school put up the curtains, the student was comfortable using the changing facility.

Next it goes on the say that if a normal student is uncomfortable they need counseling to get over it.

"Even if the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable they must allow the abortion to dominate the system."

The abortion? You've sunk to a level lower than anyone else on this board with that comment.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a black student is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a homosexual student is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a student suffering from Tourette Syndrome is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a student suffering from Down's Syndrome is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a student suffering from cerebral palsy is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

If the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable because a student suffering from gender identity disorder is in their midst they must make accommodation for that student.

Deal with it. The vast majority of the student body knows nothing about the uncomfortable feeling of the individual on the other end of the rope.

"The parents and lawyers representing the family urged the principal to reconsider, contending that singling out their daughter as the only girl in the school barred from using the girls' bathrooms was stigmatizing and psychologically damaging.”"

The parents and lawyers are advocating for their daughter's best interest. Gender identity issues go far beyond one's physical equipment. Perhaps you should read about their issues sometime. Perhaps you'll have an opportunity to work with or teach such a person, as I have in the past.

Marty; “That a particular individual's special needs makes others "uncomfortable" isn't relevant, since the school system most provide a free public education in the least restrictive environment. There are no "pat" answers to the questions you pose. Each situation is unique and solutions can and will be worked out to everyone's satisfaction, but exclusion will not among those solutions.””

We it’s nice to see that you finally admitted that what I claimed is in fact true, and that you support it. Your exact words –“ That a particular individual's special needs makes others "uncomfortable" isn't relevant, since the school system most provide a free public education in the least restrictive environment.”—Even if the vast majority of the student body is made to feel uncomfortable they must allow the abortion to dominate the system.

Here is more proof that the only thing that will make the LGBT community happy is what they want, no a reasonable accommodation.

Here is a quote from a new story in Colorado.“ Instead, she was restricted to using either the boys' restrooms or gender-neutral facilities reserved for employees or those in the school's health room, her parents said.The parents and lawyers representing the family urged the principal to reconsider, contending that singling out their daughter as the only girl in the school barred from using the girls' bathrooms was stigmatizing and psychologically damaging.””-Colorado school officials decline mediation in transgender restroom dispute-I don’t care what the parents call this kid. He has male parts so he is a BOY and belongs in the boys rest rooms, locker rooms and showers.

I remember "sneaking" into the girls bathroom after school and before football practice just to see what it looked like. Girls are nastier than guys let me tell you. But if you go into one at a public place like a store or restaurant it is not uncommon to find a sofa and other nice things you do not see in the men's room. Hmm....we are being treated unfairly guys!

(sigh..)..if only I could have showered with the girls.. I'd have been happy to go out for swimming on the girls' team..High school would sure have been a more interesting place. Maybe I wouldn't have needed a rabbit's foot...

Mini - "I just cannot believe you actually think a 17 year-old doesn't know wrong from right -- just because his hormones are raging." Oh they have morals all right - similar to an alley cat.

Marty says they have to be accommodated - fine - let them shower and change in the teachers lounge or whatever. If they don't like that too bad.

He says -- "MA law demands that accommodations be made for transgender students the same way it demands that accommodations be made for any other student with special needs.

That a particular individual's special need makes others "uncomfortable" isn't relevant, since the school system most provide a free public education in the least restrictive environment."

Now to him that means that everyone else must be made to accept showering with the apparent opposite sex. He has a strange idea of what is accommodations means IMHO.

Maybe the best thing to do is just get sports completely out of schools thereby allowing the gyms and showers and 'sports facilities' to be used for actual teaching of useful subjects. If the kids want to 'play sports' they can do it after school on their own like most others do.

Maybe if we stopped paying all that money for sports programs and coaches we wouldn't need ever increasing taxes for 'education'.

Afsnco “””Just read his responses because he has no answer on what a normal male or female is supposed to do if they feel uncomfortable because a transgenger anatomically correct male or female of the opposite sex insists on using the opposite sex bathroom, shower, or locker room. You notice he has never answered that question...just keep posting link after link with no answer.””””He did give a response to the question. It was the typical liberal response to and insane idea.

Marty“”What's so difficult about working this out between the individuals involved?”””

He expects someone to come up with an answer but can’t give one of his own.

fly got it right...the liberals do not care how many other people's rights get trampled on as long as the one feel good story gets take care of...if you are "normal" liberals like Marty do not care one bit about your feelings or your rights. It is pathetic and the more we keep giving into minorities the more the rest of society loses their rights. But the liberals do not give a damn...trust me. Just read his responses because he has no answer on what a normal male or female is supposed to do if they feel uncomfortable because a transgenger anatomically correct male or female of the opposite sex insists on using the opposite sex bathroom, shower, or locker room. You notice he has never answered that question...just keep posting link after link with no answer.

I understand. His first post on this was “”””Seventh graders are typically 12-13 years old; eighth graders 13-14; and ninth graders (freshmen) 14-15.””” Notice that he didn’t address the true issue of what is going on.

Like a moron I took his word for it and apologized. He then said “When you try to mislead by "missing it by a year", you damage your credibility because you make the children "affected" appear younger than they really are. One wonders why one might want to do that, and one surmises it's to raise outrage in a situation that may not call for outrage.”” As if one year or more likely a few months makes it OK? He even questioned if I read the linked material.

I checked with my daughter and found that freshmen can indeed be as young as 13. So I withdrew my apology because I was correct. When pointed out all he could say is “””We have, however, moved past that onto other exaggerations.”””” I’m still trying to find the first exaggeration.

I am working on some information that will settle the original outrage I have with this. The parts were a boy can be allowed nude in the locker rooms and showers with young girls.

If I get a response the only thing left will be to call me a straight up liar.

Marty “”””What's so difficult about working this out between the individuals involved?””””””

And if the transgendered student insists on using the sex segregated changing and shower facility as is its right by this directive. What are the normal students who are not comfortable to do? The freak can’t be kept out and there are not enough private locker rooms or showers for the normal kids.

If a boy was in the girl’s locker room or showers nude that would be the end of my child’s school based athletics. That’s what she has said so I wouldn’t have to forbid it.

Once again it only says transgender students uncomfortable...what about the students that are not? Again we are forcing the majority to conform even if it makes them uncomfortable. This is one of the dumbest liberal feel good ideas ever...

All students are entitled to have access to restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities that are sanitary, safe, and adequate, so they can comfortably and fully engage in their school program and activities. In meeting with the transgender student (and parent) to discuss the issues set forth in this memorandum, it is essential that the principal and student address the student’s access to the restrooms, locker room and changing facility. Each situation needs to be reviewed and addressed based on the particular circumstances of the student and the school facilities. In all cases, the principal should be clear with the student (and parent) that the student may access the restroom, locker room, and changing facility that correspondsto the student’s gender identity. While some transgender students will want that arrangement, others will not be comfortable with it. Transgender students who are uncomfortable using a sex-segregated restroomshould be provided with a safe and adequate alternative, such as a single “unisex” restroom or the nurse’s restroom. Similarly, some transgender students may not be comfortable undressing in the changing facilities that correspond to the student’s gender identity.

What's so difficult about working this out between the individuals involved?

Marty “””””””The actions I summarized didn't come from the paragraph you referenced. What I pointed out obviously doesn't fit your agenda, so you ignore it. Fine by me.”””””

I have read the entire document several times and opened all the links in the document. The only place I have found the recommendations you listed and I put back into the paragraph they came out of is that paragraph. If I missed something please feel free to provide the part I have missed.

And, right now, testosterone-loaded, pimply-faced, teenage boys are planning on faking being a transgender in order to make into the girls locker rooms and bathrooms. (Yes, like liberals, boys really can be that stupid.)

"Those issues are addressed in the DOE document linked in the OP. Read it."

I have and thus the reason for the question. Basically what it comes down to is if you have 1 transgender student in a school of 1,000 students everyone else has to bow down to the wishes of that 1 transgender student. If you feel uncomfortable with an anatomical male who thinks he is a female showering with you as a 15 year old female that is just too damn bad!

The parents of a 6-year-old transgender girl who has been banned from using the girls’ bathroom at her Fountain, Colorado public school have filed a formal discrimination complaint with the aid of a lawyer—and are using the opportunity to speak out publicly in support of their child.

“The more you talk about something, the more awareness and acceptance there is,” Kathryn Mathis, mother of first grader Coy, who was born a boy, told Yahoo! Shine. “We’re really just trying to make it known what the school has done and make them accountable.”

The family has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. It will be investigated, and if either party is unhappy with the outcome, the next step would be a lawsuit.

Kathryn and her husband, Jeremy, appeared with Coy on the "Katie" show Wednesday to talk about the case. “The school is really missing out on something big,” Kathryn, a photographer and certified nurse’s assistant, said during the broadcast. “They could be taking the opportunity to teach all of the students that everybody is different and that we should embrace our differences and we should respect everybody. Instead they’re creating this divided environment where they’re showing all these children that a child is different and we’re going to treat them poorly because of it.”

Kathryn and Jeremy, a full-time student and disabled veteran, have four other children, including a set of triplets, one of which is Coy. Kathryn explained on "Katie" that Coy, a Girl Scout who loves pink, began gravitating toward girls’ toys and clothes by 18 months. Gender eventually turned into a bigger issue when Coy asked, at age 4, “When are we going to go to the doctor to get me fixed so I can be a girl?” A psychologist confirmed then that Coy was indeed transgender, at which point, noted Jeremy, “We really needed to let Coy be who she was.”

That led to allowing Coy to “transition” into girlhood in school, which meant dressing as a female, lining up with the other girls and using the girls’ restroom.

“The change in Coy after she transitioned at school was just amazing,” Kathryn said. “The anxiety went away, the depression went away. She became happy.” She told Shine that Coy has many friends, and that they’d never had any problems with or complaints from any of the other children’s parents.

But then, in December, Kathryn and Jeremy got a call from the principal of Eagleside Elementary School, explaining that the school had reversed its position on allowing Coy to use the girls’ restroom. As an alternative to using the boys’ bathroom, he offered, she could use either the one in the nurse’s office or the one reserved for teachers. That, felt Coy’s parents, was unacceptable, and a move that would surely “set her up for harassment and bullying,” Kathryn explained.

Turns out the bathroom ban was also a violation of Colorado law, noted one of the Mathis’s lawyers, Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, based in New York City. The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against transgender students in public schools. And the state is just one of 16 states with similar laws. Just this week in Massachusetts, the department of education mandated that transgender students have the right to choose which bathroom they will use.

Referenced the following1. address the discomfort2. foster understanding of gender identity3. create a culture of respect Now let’s put the recommended actions back into the paragraph the actions came from.Some students may feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using the same sex-segregated restroom, locker room or changing facility. This discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student. School administrators and counseling staff should work with students to address the discomfort and to foster understanding of gender identity, to create a school culture that respects and values all students.

Now I will break this paragraph down for you.

Some students (the students referenced here are the non-transgendered ones) may feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using the same sex-segregated restroom, locker room or changing facility. This discomfort (again the discomfort spoken of is not the discomfort of the transgendered student but the non-transgendered students) is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student.--------- This sentence makes it clear that the discomfort of the non-transgendered student cannot be used as a reason to refuse access or use of any facility to the transgendered student or as a reason to segregate them from the other students. --------School administrators and counseling staff should work with students (the use of the word students here again refers to the non-transgendered students) to address the discomfort and to foster understanding of gender identity, to create a school culture that respects and values all students.

If the transgendered student cannot be forcibly segregated from the non-transgendered students who are uncomfortable, a stand that is made clear in this paragraph, what are the non-transgendered students left with as an answerer?

Marty“”””Those issues are addressed in the DOE document linked in the OP. Read it.””””

It has been read and quoted. Here it is again.

“””””Some students may feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using the same sex-segregated restroom, locker room or changing facility. This discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student. School administrators and counseling staff should work with students to address the discomfort and to foster understanding of gender identity, to create a school culture that respects and values all students.”””

The way I am interpreting this it says, if you are not transgender and are uncomfortable with a person of the opposite physical sex in the locker room with you, you need counseling.

Now if you can show anything that states a way to address the discomfort of what will be the vast majority of girls in the locker room other than counseling please show it and I will discuss it.

"I disagree. The state of Massachusetts is responsible for providing a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for its students. The state is discharging its responsibility in that regard, and the rights of the many to publicly sponsored educational opportunities is extended to a greater number of people. Making accommodations for transgender students does not equal "stomping all over the rights of the many."

What about all the other students that will be made uncomfortable with having someone of the opposite sex using the same bathrooms, locker rooms, and even showers?

Rumbleseat “johnnyg, if he was exposing himself in that manner he was NOT a true transgender, he was a cross-dressing pervert. He lives as a woman, but there is no mention of hormone therapy, or surgery, just clothing.”””

This is part of the problem. You and I both see a transgendered person as one who is working on or has gone through the sex reassignment possess. But the term has come to include those who have self-identified as transgender or what was called gender confused or gender misaligned but have no intention of proceeding with the medical process. My wife has a friend who is biologically male but dresses as a woman and has had his driver’s license changed to female. He has no intention of changing is physical sex because he wants to have children someday.

Under the law in many states including Washington he has access to all female facilities. He is very respectful and doesn’t use public showers or changing rooms. Unfortunately this is not a legal requirement. There are parts of the LGBT community that are either militant or at the least apathetic to the discomfort they cause to the vast majority of people in the public rest room or other facilities they use.

In the Washington example I posted the collage and police stated that there was nothing that could be done to stop this biological male from using the women’s locker room, sauna or showers because the law was on the side of the man who says he is a woman. In fact the collage even issued an apology to him after the incident. Remember he was nude in front of children ranging from 6 to 17. If I had done the exact same thing I would have been arrested and placed on the sexual offenders’ data list.

My 18 year old daughter saw this and said the first time she saw a man in the changing room she would never go back into the room. She has very good reasons for this that have nothing to do with personal choice.

This is a recipe for disaster. This is how I see this playing out. There will be three or four lawsuits filed by the LGBT community claiming discrimination with large payouts and new policies made. The sickos from the pedophile world will see how the system works and use it. Remember, according to the way the law and the education department guidelines are worded a person can use the facilities he/she claims to identify with. There is no other standard for identification and blocking a transgendered person from the facilities of their choice can result in a law suit. Who will be held accountable when a young girl is assaulted because men can no longer be kept out of the women’s facilities?

...I take that back, I do have one more thing to say about this issue. The fact remains that if a student considers himself/herself of a gender that differs from his/her birth anatomy, then the school should be required to notify the parent(s) because: (a.) The student is still a minor child under his/her parents'/'s care and (b.) How the heck else do "they" expect said child's parent(s) to support their child socially/psychologically if the parent(s) is/are not kept in the loop?

That would be the case for students with birthdays late in the year. It's not unheard of, but it is atypical (as I indicated). As you indicated, your daughter's friends turned 14 in September, so 90% of their freshman year was spent as a 14-year old.

I withdraw my appoligy for the mistake on the age issue.I just talked to my daughter. She had several 13 year olds in her freshman class they turned 14 in the first month of the freshman year. One of them actually started her freshman year at 13 and was pregnant.

"Yes, but what happens in one state will generally spread to other states."

If that's true, then we should see a plethora of "Stand Your Ground" laws like those of Florida in other states and Mississippi wouldn't have taken as long as it did to ratify the 13th Amendment.

"We once again see someone advocating to make an extreme minority "comfortable" while stomping all over the rights of the many. "

I disagree. The state of Massachusetts is responsible for providing a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for its students. The state is discharging its responsibility in that regard, and the rights of the many to publicly sponsored educational opportunities is extended to a greater number of people. Making accommodations for transgender students does not equal "stomping all over the rights of the many."

"How do you even try to justify that it should be right for a male or female to declare what "gender" they are and have that said male or female then be allowed to use the facilities of the physically undisputable opposite sex?"